People like myself who are either paleoconservatives or libertarians generally base their opposition to Israel and its Lobby on the costs of the de facto alliance, both financial and in terms of the wars and political chaos it has triggered. We try to demonstrate how damage to rule of law and actual U.S. interests has been a byproduct of the relationship and seek to explain what a sane U.S. foreign policy might actually look like, end of story. But it is different sensibility coming from the more humanitarian inclined political left of the spectrum, which one would assume to have a natural inclination to oppose purveyors of oppression and human suffering. With that in mind, I would observe it is remarkable how ineffective the left has been in mobilizing any serious opposition to Israel’s policies.

There is a kind of groupthink that might provide an explanation for the lack of results in spite of what sometimes appears to be frenzied activity on the part of the cluster of liberal groups that focus on the Middle East. Gatherings to “Expose AIPAC” often focus on strategy and training, hardly discussing or challenging the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) at all. They also frequently fail to confront the full array of predominantly Jewish groups actively promoting Israel to include The Hudson Institute, WINEP, the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, MEMRI, the American Enterprise Institute’s foreign policy wing, and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. The plethora of well-resourced and actively engaged Jewish groups involved in foreign policy and more particularly Israel promotion is a fact of life inside the Beltway and a critical element supporting the interventionist narrative in spite of the country as a whole becoming decidedly war weary.

At the same time, most American Jews are actually either cool or even hostile to the policies of the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Peter Beinart has called for a boycott of goods produced in the Israeli settlements while Jeffrey Goldberg has denounced a coalition partner in Netanyahu’s government, writing “The Jewish Home party advances an ideology that will bring about the destruction (the self-destruction) of Israel.” This reaction to the Israeli drift rightwards politically speaking probably explains why most organizations on the political left that are critical of Israel are themselves led by American Jews and, to their credit, they are very outspoken regarding Israel’s human rights violations and its policies towards the Palestinians. But it sometimes seems that they are restrained in their critiques, something that might be attributed to what could be referred to as Jewish identity politics. Instead of biting the bullet and confronting the fact that it is leading Jewish organizations and their in-the-pocket politicians that have quite plausibly been the sine qua non in unleashing a series of actual and impending wars against the Muslim world, they instead sometimes serve as gatekeepers to frame and divert an uncomfortable truth while looking for alternative explanations.

Part of the problem is that even though major Jewish organizations’ support of interventionism represents what is only a minority opinion among Americans in general, they pretend to represent everyone who is Jewish and have successfully sold that canard to both congress and the media. And make no mistake, it is the financial and political muscle of Jewish groups like Anti-Defamation League, Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, The American Jewish Committee, and the AIPAC that have given the green light to the hard line Israeli governments that have done so much damage to U.S. interests over the past decade. Christian Zionists are highly visible and are frequently cited to demonstrate the diversity of the Israeli Lobby, but they are largely irrelevant in terms of the actual dynamics of the pro-Israel effort. The reality is that no other national lobby can gather 13,000 of the faithful to its convention and count on the enthusiastic presence of numerous politicians from both parties as AIPAC does every year. But in spite of the quite visible power of the Jewish organizations it is sometimes more convenient and less troubling to look instead for other reasons to explain Tel Aviv’s misbehavior.

Progressives who are nervous about mentioning the shameless politicking of Jewish organizations frequently parrot what I call the Noam Chomsky rationalization, engaging actively in criticizing Israeli behavior while at the same time blaming the Middle East farrago on outside forces like American imperialism, capitalism, or oil. This approach largely exonerates Israel from actual blame for what it does and it also by extension minimizes the role of the Jewish groups that constitute the core of the pro-Israel lobby because it is claimed that Washington drives the Israeli government’s behavior based on its own self-interest not vice versa. As a result, the critics seldom question the legitimacy of the self-defined Jewish state and they are sometimes reluctant to support any measures that would actually do damage to Israel and its perceived interests.

Norman Finkelstein, a reliable progressive critic of Israeli actions, is of the Chomsky persuasion. He believes that the United States would have attacked Iraq anyway based on its own interests whether or not the fervently pro-Israel neocons had occupied key positions in the Pentagon, National Security Council, and White House. Finkelstein, in an article on the Israel Lobby, maintains that “fundamental U.S. policy in the Middle East hasn’t been affected by the Lobby,” rejects the view that Israel is a liability for U.S. national interests and states instead that it is a “unique and irreplaceable American asset.” He describes American Jewish elites as only “’pro’ an Israel that is useful to the U.S.” He insists that the neocons do not “generally have a primary allegiance to Israel [or] in fact, any allegiance to Israel.” The evidence, however, suggests otherwise: even agreeing that the Iraq war had a number of godfathers, the folks in the Pentagon and White House who cooked the books and led the charge had extremely well documented strong personal and even financial ties to Israel, so much so that several of them were accused of passing classified information to the Israeli Embassy.

The shaping of the narrative to minimize the role of organizations that are demonstrably Jewish – albeit unrepresentative of Jewish opinion in America -has also been very effective in some media circles. An April 2007 ninety minute presentation on PBS’s Frontpage with Bill Moyers “Buying the War,” a critical look at the genesis of the Iraq invasion, did not mention Israel’s supporters even once. And one only has consider the recent Obama trip to Israel as well as the interrogation at the Chuck Hagel nomination, which was driven by organizations like AIPAC from behind the scenes, to realize that the United States government is no free agent when it comes to Middle Eastern policy. Ignoring the dominant role of “Jewish leaders” and the well-funded organizations that they head which falsely pretend to represent their entire community is a convenient obfuscation if one does not want to address causality, a bit like being concerned about global warming without looking at the actual science.

President Obama recognizes the power represented by Jewish groups acting as a cohesive and focused political entity when he meets with them collectively in the White House, so why the reluctance in recognizing and confronting their persistent pro-war, pro-intervention agenda? At a March 7th session, shortly before his trip to Israel, Obama met with Alan Solow, Lee Rosenberg and Michael Kassen of AIPAC; Barry Curtiss-Lusher of the Anti-Defamation League; David Harris of the American Jewish Committee; Jerry Silverman of Jewish Federations of North America; Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz; former Congressman Robert Wexler; Dan Mariaschin of B’nai B’rith; Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations; Jeremy Ben-Ami, executive director of J Street; and Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Admittedly the linking of Jewish organizations’ easy access to policymakers with their possible role in launching a string of failed wars in Asia and still more in the offing on behalf of Israel makes many people uncomfortable because it invites the dual loyalty critique and even more extreme commentary that is ultimately racist in nature, but there you have it. The president knows who is pulling his strings and so should the rest of us.

Americans can either confront the ugly realities of what has been going on for the past twelve years or they can pretend that what they are seeing is not really there. The gatekeepers are understandably concerned lest Washington’s next war be blamed on American Jews so it is far better to suggest against all evidence that Israel is a pawn of American imperialism or that recent wars have been about oil or capitalist exploitation. The reality is that if progressives (and the rest of us) really want to stop a proxy war against Syria followed by a catastrophic conflict with Iran we have to take the blinkers off and be willing to confront Jewish groups like AIPAC and the ADL directly and persistently.

201231275939 Responseshttp%3A%2F%2Foriginal.antiwar.com%2Fgiraldi%2F2013%2F05%2F09%2Fgatekeeping-for-zion-2%2FGatekeeping+for+Zion2013-05-10+06%3A00%3A54Philip+Giraldihttp%3A%2F%2Foriginal.antiwar.com%2F%3Fp%3D2012312759 to “Gatekeeping for Zion”

Pat Buchanan said it all over 20 years ago. " Congress is Israeli occupied territory. " Phil is right. Most of us here are doing our part. It is a long uphill battle. But it must be fought if this country is to avoid yet more disasters. To Hell with the ADL, AIPAC, and the SPLC.

The problem is that the term "American Jews" is not a specific enough term for these warmongers and apartheid supporters. I would accuse them of Israel-centrism, imperialism, colonialism, and above all using the memory of the holocaust to hide their own misdeeds and racism. They need to be stripped of their holocaust fig leaf, their ethnic fig leaf, and even their Israelphilia and let the world see that the emperor has no clothes. That these are self serving small minded racist that like to generate chaos far away from the danger itself and cowardly hide behind other Jews who probably are going to get blamed for their actions in the end.

I did not read the details of the Chomsky link this time but I have understood those arguments as sane before. Something like: the logic of capitalism drives imperialism and oil is a necessary source for it.
The consequences are horrific but cause not inexplicable.
The Iran influence in Iraq has been confusing but is maybe just a detail in the long run: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ali-younes/john-ker…

Israel's Mideast malevolence is a sideshow. It enables the ever increasing Israeli/Jewish control of America's government, finances and military-industrial complex. The Jewish state has occupied not just Palestine, but America too. Our democracy is being methodically destroyed from within and transformed into a world dominating racist ultrapower, the JEWISH STATE OF AMERICA.

Phil,could give me a period of US history about you are proud and was different than last twelve years?Meanwhile i believe that Chomsky and Finkelstein are rights but i recognize that i don't know well US's history.I mean a period when "freedom" and "democracy"were the real motive of US wars.As one who saw the events of the last 40 years a i can't see anything different and anything differ5ent from what a capitalism system in stage of imperialism can do.

Exactly, Johnny. Phil is indeed right. The Israel lobby is pushing Syrian regime change/civil war just like it did with Iraq (with 5,000 US troops dead and thousands more wounded/maimed not to mentioned all the dead Iraqis too): http://tinyurl.com/jamesmorrisoncrosstalk

PS: Meant to write not to mention all the dead Iraqis too (with the Lancet report putting the number at a million). See fmr CIA Bin Laden unit head Michael Scheuer warn how such neocon driven US interventions provide the motivation for Al Qaeda terrorism at http://tinyurl.com/911motivemediabetrayal via Youtube!

Mr. Giraldi,
Thank-you for doing what Thoreau suggested – digging out the roots of evil instead of just hacking at the branches. Racist Israel is just another evil in the World and in time it will die like the rest.

I'm not entirely sure about Finkelstein, but I think Chomsky is entirely sincere in his belief that Israel serves US neo-imperialist interests. I also think he's completely wrong about that, but I don't think he's trying to hide anything or conduct some kind of under-handed rationalization. I think it largely follows from his leftwing/Marxist views about history and economics. (NB: I write that as a liberal/leftist.)

IIRC Meerscheimer/Walt discussed the "Chomsky" viewpoint in their book. Much to their credit, they don't dismiss it with a wave of their hand, but rather go into detail to show why it's incorrect.

I don't know that we can blame Israel for what the US does. Israel acts in her own interest and those that lobby for her, do the same. If elected officials "sell out", or honestly believe our interests coincide, it's up to the American people to vote for, or against them. Apparently, by what appears in the media, the only things that matter to the vast majority of Americans are homosexual athletes and adulterous congressional candidates. War appears to be of very little concern.

Why in the world would Americans take up for people's they know have been stealing from US since 1965 when they infected us all with spirochetal prion protein infections called Immortal and then introduce psychiatry to kill them by dopeing us all up instead of treating the real cause of AIDS immune suppression. How much corruption and murder are the public to stomach knowing our corrupt Congress knows that all syndromes from Autism to Alzheimers are all caused by multiple infections they refuse to treat. Instead they dream up wars to get US into so they can add Anthrax and Smallpox to the prion gene sharing stealth infections they already have so they can get its and giggles watching the 22 a day US soldiers keel themselves a day in refusal to treat the truth! Now the murderers have garnered "Ethical" approval to give it to all your kids so they can all chew their limbs off because they can't find a gun! Send the corrupt Congress to jail that steals our lives while giving E2 status to Israeli's to come take your land when your gone!

by harassing syria, we are effectively attacking iran at its weakest point. Yhis is a war with iran…..

what has syria ever done against us? against israel in the last 30 years? agaisnt other arabs??

nothing… syria was and is harmless.

israel, by attacking syria ( in truth they attacked a brigade of iranian revolutionary guards, trying to provoke iran) is trying to start a major war so we can step in and they can step aside and watch the goyim slaughter eachother

Phil makes a good point that the left led anti-war movement has been seriously hampered by its inability to take on Israel. I am part of that problem. Certainly at the beginning of the Iraq War it was pretty clear to many of us that that was a war on behalf of Israel. However, we did not make the case because it would be divisive as well as earning anyone who tried to make that case an accusation of antisemitism. I certainly feared that accusation.

I think today that the situation is improving there is a growing political space where criticism of Israel is tolerated. Unfortunately, there is no left-wing antiwar movement to speak of today. But if it is to be rebuilt it will have to put Israel in its sights at the very beginning. Part of the problem last time was that the left-wing Democrats played too large a role in the movement and they dropped their antiwar stance as soon as Obama was elected. These people, were of course, very pro-Israeli.

Oh put a lid on it Rich, this bull does not fly or stick to anything anymore. All the media in the Us are 100% pro shitty little state and push hard for its policies and shield it from any meaningful criticism or even meaningful debate. The average American joe has no chance of knowing what the reality of those monsters is. Then there is the incredible power of money that is being used to maintain an Israeli centric policy in DC.
But I agree with you on one thing, that the Israelis are following their own interest, in exchange you have to accept what wil happen when the American will follow THEIR own interest.

But are you really serious in maintaining that the pro Israeli lobby does not represent the majority of American Jews ? For all I know that might well be the case, but besides mentioning that some left wing organizations have called for a boycott of Israel, you offered no other evidence or statistic to support this premise !

Are you really trying to say that the great Jewish nation in America is being misrepresented by Israeli lobbyists, and none of us, fellow Americans have heard a peep from them ?

There is a theory in the middle east, I don't know how much traction it has, but, there is a theory in the middle east that israel is an extension of the "American Empire", that israel is a tool used by America to colonize the middle east. This theory is nonsense and backwards. Tiny israel, actually holds the United States Captive, politically. The most influential people in America are dual citizens of israel, members of the b'nai brith, and only live in New York and Los Angeles. People like Michael Bloomberg for example. He doesn't care about people that live in Americas Heartland. He doesn't care about people from Oklahoma city Oklahoma, or Peoria Illinois etc. People like Alan Greenspan and so many others that slip my mind right now. They don't get their hands dirty.

The media and the politicians in America go out of their way to trick people into thinking that OUR interests are exactly the same as the jews. They aren't.

I asked a question time ago:how is possible that whole Israeli lobby +whole Israeli diplomats+whole Israeli politicians Pollard release and after 25 years they didn't get it,but they,according with lobby theories,can make wars which US rejects by principle but nevertheless they do it only for Israel interests?Imagine that Israeli lobby to get something from Cuba will begin to laud Cuban system and will demand US to stop the boycott against Cuba.Would they manage?I'm sure that not.Indeed ,regarding Iraq criminal invasion ,Israel pushed for it but she manages to convince only where US is ready to be convinced.

It's not a simple binary. One can neither say Israel is a piece of US policy, nor that US middle east policy is dictated by Israel. The interests, policies and practices of the two nations are much more closely interwoven, much less objectified than that. It is an histrical abnormality for two sovereign nations to be so closely bound together, so inseverable, but unusual hardly means impossible. As long as the ruling elites in both nations genuinely believe they are gaining indispensable advantage through this relationship, it wil persist, and as of yet there is no sign that either nation's rulers have any significant dissatisfaction.

[…] officially be dubbed “Operation United Against Zion”. And first on our takedown list are the pro-“Israel” gatekeepers who masquerade in “leftist” garb (35). Those cowards, hypocrites and stooges who pay lip service to resistance; who pose as fronts for the […]